baycon - Musings of Unayok

2005 Jun 02

22:12baycon

No, not me. </a></a>bovil and </a></a>kproche. It was a good excuse to head down to San Jose. Well, another good excuse, aside from </a></a>baycon. So this begins my recollections for the trip that includes both. And much much more...

(warning: long rock, with entry points)

Wednesday

Working Victoria Day Monday gave me the travel day of Wednesday. Otherwise, it would have been incredibly tight and virtually impossible for me to actually make it. As it was, it was a very good day to travel. Planes were not entirely full. I waved at LA as I transited there. All of the horror stories I've had about LAX are based on getting into the airport. Once past security it's... well, just another airport. At least they didn't "inspect" my luggage again.

Once arrived, I met up with </a></a>kproche 'cause I was crashing in their suite for the first night. Quite a very palatial suite it was, too. Tempted to see about doing a four way split of a suite next year. But that idea may change based on other things that happened.

Helped Kevin deal with getting some/most of the </a></a>loeg party gear and various other trunks and containers moved in. Then started meeting up with family. First Andy's and much later Kevin's. And a nice dinner at House of Siam, which had yummy things to eat (and not bother the gut).

While drinking in their suite after dinner, I had to mull over a decision. In the middle of the afternoon, </a></a>shadowolf called and attempted to insist that I go with him and </a></a>kaysho to a pre-screening of SERENITY. On Thursday evening. In place of attending the wedding dinner. ARGH. Much envy over the dilemma was received from the attendees.

Thursday

</a></a>bovil and </a></a>kproche's big day. Ceremony on the beach was delayed, but this was a good thing, as it gave the sun time to burn off the mist hanging around the site — Natural Bridges. Once under way, it was quite good — apropriate for the both of them — as was the little gathering afterwards.

By the time the ceremony was over, I had made my decision about SERENITY. It's just a movie, which will be out in September. This dinner will only happen once.

Dinner in the evening was at Vin Santo. As usual, the food was fantastic. A few hitches — they weren't ready for as large a party as Andy and Kevin had promised. Especially with the skewed orders from our particular demographics. There was also some confusion over the bill, but it all worked out in the end.

I left my EVE cap at the restaurant. Hopefully I'll get it back. It is in the hand of an unnamed usual suspect so it probably will.

Kaysho showed up much later. Sleep.

Friday

One of the running themes of the trip so far is regular calls to </a></a>kishorwolf. I haven't been able to get ahold of him in nearly a month, and we had been talking about making sure he got to come up to </a></a>baycon. So, every couple of hours, I would give another call. Reaching his full voice mail. Never did get ahold of him. Hope he's doing okay. Silly folfy.

The day was dominated by the set up for the League of Evil Geniuses party. While Kevin and Andy were this year's Fan Guests of Honour at Baycon, they also still like running this party. And I like helping out. So much so that I got volunteered for special duty at next year's Baycon. O.o

Also got registered. The Friday reg seemed a little... unprepared for the people that showed up. However, they did have a couple of people who knew well what they were doing. This becomes more important later.

The evening saw the party. As usual it was quite a fun time! 85 Evil Genii this year. A couple more each time the party comes around. Heh. Lots of people showed up, and the party ran until almost 4 in the morning. Had some really good conversation and several drinks. Other parties also ran, including the return of Mara's Bar. Klingons always serve good... well... strong drinks.

Saturday

Started off as sort of a rambling day. By this point, any chance of Kishor dropping by had pretty much vanished, so the calls diminished. And were replaced by dealer room prowling and viewing the Art Show. The Art Show had a general theme. Not every work, of course, but the thematic element was "things with wings". The dealer's room was cool, but far fewer book dealers than you get on the west coast. Still interesting.

Kaysho ended up heading off to Fanime, which is where more of the local furs were likely to be hanging out.

Ran into </a></a>zyxwvut of </a></a>eric_in_elevatr. We have a habit of wanting to get caught up with each other at cons, and having it get sidetracked. And... yep, you guessed it, it happened again. Nice additional conversations with random people wandering by. But I missed getting caught up with Eric. Ah well, there will be other times.

After dinner, I went roaming about, looking at the parties that were opening. Then I wandered over to the Masquerade, already underway and nearly finished. I ended up getting some good pictures in the photo shoot.

Fandom is a generally very helpful and friendly bunch of people. So, when this guy comes barelling past me, looking like he's had a really Not Good experience, shaking and stuff, of course I'm going to check if he's okay and see if he needs anything. Make sure he gets some air. We sat outside, and talked for a bit, got him calmed down some. The dragged him in for a drink. He looked like he needed it. And he seemed like a really cool guy (and attractive, to boot).

For those who were there, this was </a></a>thegoodmo who had just been... er... defrocked... by Chase Masterson. A traumatising event, definitely. I hear someone caught it on video. —evil grin—

We ended up hanging together for rest of the weekend. Heeh. We ended up back in the GoH suite, forced Mo (kicking and screaming, uh huh) into a kilt, then sampled some really really nasty Chinese "wine" and some much much nicer chartreuse. And subjected people to Robot Chicken.

Sunday

A very late start to this day. It was a typical convention day: a couple of panels (including a nicely animated LJ BOF session). More dealer's room. Foodening. Needed a nap in the afternoon — also typical of cons where the emphasis is on late night activity. My body was still convinced it was supposed to be getting up on Eastern Time for work, too.

Along the way, I made sure to check out the latest status of the MTBI (Mo-Tycho Butchness Index). Next year, I think it needs to be on the website. ;)

More parties in the evening, though more subdued, and in the excellent company of Mo. The night was a little earlier than it should normally have been. But I did fly out the next morning, and the general lack of sleep over the con was catching up with me. However, it was a very good day.

Kaysho spent most of the day either lounging in the room or off with various other friends, and ended up bailing from the room completely some unDogly-late hour of the evening. Didn't get to spend all that much time with him, either. But I think it worked out well enough.

Monday

Time to head home, and leave a very drowsy newlywed couple, not to mention Mo, and a convention full of people not quite believing that the con's almost over. FLights home were... pretty short considering I slept most of the way. Got home very late, had delays getting my luggage (though not too bad). Customs as usual was a formality. Then more sleep. And Tuesday... blah... was a workday. :( Back to the grind.

Comments:

The Mo-Tycho Butchness Index has an error, though. Rosie O'Donnel doesn't belong at the top, Martina Navratilova belongs at the top.

I suggested that it be replaced (or augmented) with the Mo-Tycho Bitchiness Index, with Harvey Feirstein at the top (instead of bottom as on the butchness index) and Ellen DeGeneres at the bottom (unless someone can name a nicer, more caring lesbian).